Thursday, September 8, 2011

The Case for a National Manufacturing Policy, Part 4



Last week, I wrote five blogs and all five times I wrote on manufacturing. That was a lead-up to Labor Day.

The conclusion of my manufacturing spotlight series was on making the case for a national manufacturing policy. There are key areas which I think need attention and focus.

It's time to focus on embracing manufacturing, investing in skills training, removing uncertainty about public infrastructure's future, achieving energy independence, and reducing regulations.

I'm taking the five days this week to explain these. Here's today's:


Achieving energy independence.

One President set a goal to put a man on the moon, and we did it.  Why not set a goal of energy independence in coming years?  Let's do it.

With advancements in accessing oil and gas deposits in North America, better coal-burning technology, safer nuclear plant development capabilities, and fuel cell development among the options, this goal is doable.  With energy independence, renewable fuels have as much a chance of success in the future too.

It doesn't have to mean government subsidy to get there, either.  Energy independence starts with not picking the winners, but actually stopping from picking the winners. 

There's no good environmental reason, for example, to favor windmills over natural gas.   Arguments that natural gas, overall, is environmentally friendlier are pretty strong.

A national manufacturing policy should help create manufacturing opportunity in the U.S. and provide abundant, home-sourced energy by seeking and achieving energy independence.

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